May Update

Just a few pieces of information to keep everyone updated on the mission trip progression:

• Donations of clothing are coming in. We are in serious need of large suitcases! The checked bags will be packed with clothes and donations. The total weight for each bag can not exceed 50 lb. So, hard sided cases are good, but not preferred.
• Randy Ross has purchased a few refurbished laptops for the Presbytery in Huanta and the keyboards have been replaced to accommodate the Spanish language.
• Randy has also secured our reservations for airlines, buses and hotels.
• Our mission shirts have been designed by Phyllis Acton and Brenda Paredes of the Sharon mission group. The order for our shirts was placed on May 2. If time permits, Kathryn and Sarah Ross have offered to tie dye the shirts for a special touch.
• Connie Dale is in the process of making more glass crosses for the Presbytery of Huanta churches that we will be visiting.
• Gifts of prayer shawls and pew cushions are being made by ladies of Sharon Presbyterian.

Thank you.

The Packing Has Begun!

The planning, schedules, airline tickets and accommodations are being finalized for our 2010 mission trip to Peru. We have 10 bags filled with donations so far. The bags are filled with your donations of clothes and weighed for our maximum allowable weight of 50 lbs each!

Each of our 16 participants are allowed to check 2 bags for international travel. Those 2 bags can weigh up to 50 lbs each. If each participant can pack all of their own belongings into 1 bag... that means we can take 16 bags of donations! That's 800 lbs!

Sharon Presbyterian Youth (SPY) Sunday

We were fortunate to hear several short sermons on Youth Sunday at Sharon Presbyterian. A copy of Ally Butler's sermon is in a previous post below. We were also lead by Brittany Stanford. A copy of her sermon is included in this post.

We thank all of our youth for their time, talents and dedication.

~Breaking Down Love~

Good morning.

Love is scary. I didn’t think love was scary before I took the time to sit down and write this sermon. But it is. Being that I’m only 17, I though that I would look pretty dumb trying to stand up here and preach to you all about love. So instead I decided to take a part first Corinthians and tell you little stories about how I’ve seen love expressed according to Paul’s writings.

First, love is patient. Patience is a characteristic that is so well known yet probably the least expressed. Growing up in such a fast passed society has really made me respect those who are patient because it happens so scarcely. When I really think about it, the only time throughout my life (granted that it’s only 17 years) that I really witness patience being acted out of love is when I watch my grandparents interact. For those of you all that are unfamiliar with my grandparents, my grandma or “Now Now”, as I call her, is 85 years old and suffers from macular degeneration. How I describe it, she can’t hear unless you talk very loudly into her ear and she can’t see unless you’re directly in her face. As sad as this is, it’s twice as frustrating, when all you really want to do is have a conversation with her. Although I love her with all my heart, and I always will, I can’t deny the fact that I grow impatient sometimes having to walk at an almost not moving pace just to stay by her side as we progress to one point to the other. However, my grandpa does this everyday, all day, without raising his voice, encouraging her to walk faster or growing the least bit impatient. When I recently interviewed him for a school project, I asked him what the happiest moment of his life was. And he told me, that it was every single morning that he woke up to the one person he loves unconditionally and will continue to love unconditionally until he dies. Even if it means slowing his life down just to stay by her side. Love is patient.

Love is kind. This passed Christmas season, my mom and I were going through the Chick fil-A drive through to save time on our usual hectic holiday season. We ordered like we were supposed to and drove around. However, when we pulled up to the window, the girl handed us our sandwiches and said the gentleman in front of you paid for your lunch. He wanted me to tell you all to have a merry Christmas. I was in complete shock. Being the person I am, I freaked out. Oh my gosh mom! He’s going to try to trick us! He’s going to take us! Drive away! As soon as that came out of my mouth, the look on my mom’s face confirmed the second guessing and my assumption that didn’t cross my mind until after I made that comment. Brittany, she said smiling, he’s just trying to spread Jesus’ love. Don’t you remember the reason for all this chaos? That moment, sitting in the car eating my chicken sandwich, was the first time I witnessed God’s love at work through the kindness of others. Love is kind.

Love is not envious. My best friend Liska and I have known each other for a while now. However, it all started with the one thing we’ve spent our whole lives doing… playing soccer. Liska and I first met on our middle school soccer team, where we played the same position. As you may guess, it started out with a lot of competition because we were both underclassmen on the team fighting for that same spot. After the season ended, our friendship carried off the field and everyday after that. Including today where she sits right over there to watch me. Every season after that, it was the same scenario, my best friend and I in that one forward position. What I left out of this story so far is the fact that she’s twice as fast as me, twice as athletic as me and twice as driven as I am when it comes to soccer. These past few years she’s continued to excel as always. And I continue to be the best friend and the girl who goes in for a minute when Liska needs some water. The funny thing is, looking back as I tell this I can’t remember one practice, scrimmage or game when I was envious of my best friend. Games after games of cheering, screaming and running to hug her after she scored that winning goal. Recently, Liska signed with Clemson to continue her soccer career in college. I know we’re going to have to forgive her. When I first heard the news, I was almost ……?………envy that I would have had. Love is not envious.

Love does not insist on its own ways. The past few summers I’ve had the opportunity to go t Peru with the adult mission team at our church. While we were there this past year, putting together benches to serve as pews for churches all over Peru. As easy as putting a bench together may sound, trust me it’s not. As this process is occurring, there are legs going into the wrong spot, nails bending and breaking, and hammers hitting more fingers than nails. And the best yet, my dad is watching all this, cringing. For those of you all that don’t know my dad, he’s in construction and he has to have complete control over everything. Everything has to be done a specific way. Obviously, this wasn’t happening. And I was waiting; making bets with others, on how much longer he would be able to bite his tongue before having a panic attack and start correcting everyone on what they are doing wrong. As funny as this is, at the time, my dad was honestly in complete misery. As we got towards the end of the week and my dad hadn’t completely freaked out, at least not in front of everyone, I started to become confused. Is this really happening? There is no way we’re going to leave this place before he yells at everyone. I know this is hard to believe, but it never happened. When I asked him about it after we got home, he explained to me that we were there to spread God’s love half way across the world. And God’s love does not insist on its own ways.

Love is not irritable or resentful. Also in Peru this past year, we had a well… bad experience getting to Huanta, the city we were staying in. When we arrived in Lima, we loaded on to a bus that was supposed to be an 8 hour drive to Huanta. A man named Samuel who was the head of the presbytery in Huanta, had taken the earlier bus to Lima and had met us at the airport just to make sure that we were as happy and as excited as he was about seeing us and working with us in God’s name this week. Well, that was all well and good, until about 10 hours later, when we were informed that we were still 6 hours from our destination. Apparently, this 10 hour bus ride was actually a 16 hour bus ride. Yea… seriously. To describe it nicely, I was not happy. You mean I just got off the plane for 8 hours to get on a bus for 16? No thank you. Please take me home. After we finally got there, and also well about an hour or so to complain about it, it hit me that Samuel went there to get us and then rode back. Why wasn’t he complaining? After getting to know him a little better throughout the week, I came to understand the amount of gratitude he had for the work we were doing for our Lord and for the people of Peru. The 32 hours he spent on the bus that day was nothing compared to the love he had for God for bringing us to him to help the churches of Peru. Thanks Samuel, for proving to me that true love is not irritable or resentful.

Love is not arrogant, boastful or rude. As much as I despise his team, I can’t help but give credit where credit is due and none of us can deny the fact that Tim Tebow has every reason in the world, well… except a second national championship, to be arrogant and boastful about his talent and accomplishments. Being the first sophomore to win the Heisman is not something most all American players can say they’ve done. No matter how good they think they are. However, game after game, win after win and title after title, Tebow continued to run out on the field with the scripture written on the black marks under his eyes. No matter how important the game may be, his number one priority was to share with the world God’s word. Tebow, like many of us youth, attends yearly mission trips and church every Sunday. As a younger athlete I truly admire Tebow and how he presents himself to the world. Out of all the arrogant collegiate and professional athletes calling themselves role models well… it’s nice to have someone to look up to someone to prove that no matter how great you think you are you don’t even compare to Jesus Christ. Tebow’s love for his savior helped him and me realize that real love is not arrogant or boastful no matter how great our accomplishments may be.

Finally, love bears all things, believes all things and endures all things. This one was hard. I stared blankly at my paper when I got to this point in the scripture. Because no matter how hard I thought about my encounters with my friends or at school I couldn’t think of one example where I saw God’s love through someone expressing all of these attributes. That’s when I finally got it. The only person that I know that’s truly bared many things, believed with all his heart and endured unimaginable amount pain, all out of love was Jesus Christ. Jesus bared every single sin committed by us when he was hung on the cross. He truly believed with all his heart in what he was doing. He believed that his father would forgive us and accept us into heaven to live with him eternally. And he endured every last bit of pain and anguish out of this belief and love for us. It doesn’t matter whether you’re 16 or 60; you’re not going to be able to find a greater example of love than that.

Audio link to this sermon

Sharon Presbyterian Youth Programs

Why International Missions?

We at Sharon Presbyterian Church are honored to have a group from Port Orange Presbyterian Church in Port Orange, Florida joining us on our upcoming mission trip to Peru. The statements below were taken from the March 2010 edition of The Grapevine (POPC’s monthly newsletter) available on their website. We thank Kaitlin and Donna for sharing their views of the importance of long-term international missions.

What’s the point of a long term international mission partnership, anyway?
“Long-term international mission partnerships are important because Port Orange Presbyterian, and all of its members (including myself), cannot be the church in the world if it only connects with churches in the Volusia County Area, Florida, and the rest of the USA. Building relationships with churches all over the world is crucial to really doing God’s work.”

Kaitlin Lyons, age 16
“Mission trips can change the way you think. You come back with a renewed sense of purpose, excited about what God is doing in your life, your church, and in the world….. It’s one thing to travel to another country and repair a damaged church, or do a VBS program for example, and another to really build a long term partnership… We don’t want to go into another country with an arrogant attitude that we are there to fix all of the problems. There are many different ways to live life honorably, as children of God. My eyes have been opened from my past experiences with international mission travel. We have a lot to learn from spending time with people with very different backgrounds from our own. Loving and serving God should be our priority in life.”

Donna Ketchledge, adult